News

Germany, France join Nordic crusade against iTunes

By LC Angell ● Tuesday, January 23, 2007

German and French consumer groups have joined regulators from Norway, Denmark and Sweden in the ongoing effort to force Apple to make songs bought from the iTunes Store compatible with devices other than the iPod. The Associated Press reports: “Last June, consumer agencies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed that Apple was violating contract and copyright laws in their countries. Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon said French consumer lobby UFC-Que Choisir and its German counterpart, Ferbraucherzentralen, joined the effort late last year, and other European countries are considering it. Finland’s Kuluttajavirasto consumer group is also part of the effort.”

Comments

1

I don’t think this decision should be up to anyone but Apple. It’s their software so they should have the option of what devices play their content. If people wanted to use iTunes music that bad, they’d burn them to a disc and reimport them using some other player. If that’s not possible, get an iPod. IMO, it’s really up to Apple if other devices are compatible with iTunes itself.

Posted by ddsd on January 23, 2007 at 10:10 PM (CST)

1

It’s Apple’s damn product! You can’t control a company you don’t even work at! Simple as that!

Posted by Bonk on January 23, 2007 at 10:30 PM (CST)

1

Okay, here’s what I’d do if I were Apple and I *had* to give a little on this: remove or change the DRM but keep the AAC codec. The other players usually don’t support it, but they’ll have to, now. And WMA can go jump off a bridge.

Posted by Pikemann_Urge on January 23, 2007 at 10:54 PM (CST)

1

Where are these countries when it comes to forcing Microsoft to make it’s Windows applications compatible with my Mac?

Do they force restaurants serving Coke to also serve Pepsi?

This is a horrible argument by these countries.

Posted by Kevin Crossman on January 24, 2007 at 12:13 AM (CST)

1

It’s not surprising. Europe is now largely anti-American and will attack any economic symbol it can.

Also let’s not forget that Microsoft was attacked for binding Internet Explorer to Windows, where the same “it’s their software” argument could be applied.

Even if they were forced to open it up a little, I think iTunes would continue to reign on the basis of usability.

Posted by Weeble on January 24, 2007 at 12:32 AM (CST)

1

Europe is not largely anti-American! It only has a different law system. And don’t say that these complaints are good or bad, it is just so that there are these laws. They were not set up to anger Americans. As far as I know there are weird laws in some States, too.

Posted by aeuropean on January 24, 2007 at 5:13 AM (CST)

1

This is not what the consumer wants. It’s just the consumer groups crusade against Apple inc. Have these people ever heard of Zune of this little company called Microsoft.

Posted by Mikael Stange (Swedish) on January 24, 2007 at 6:54 AM (CST)

1

How very ironic that these countries are going after Apple for its DRM controls yet they have said nothing about the very restrictive DRM controls built into Microsoft Windows Vista.

I say that Apple just drop all sales of anything Apple in each of these countries and let the consumer backlash there tell them how wrong they to try to push Apple around like this.

Posted by CD on January 24, 2007 at 7:50 AM (CST)

1

what a bunch of one eyed apple lovers you guys are….

talk about a jaded view…hello? the consumer? omg someone should dare use an mp3 device which isnt an ipod….its the end of civilisation as we know it.

i cannot believe every comment so far has supported apples ongoing decision to basically be pricks and monopolise the mp3 market.

as you can tell from my spelling of “civ”, no im not american but yes i do own an ipod and no other mp3 device….but i still think apple or anyone that makes proprietery tech on their devices which can only be used on their own product care less about the consumer and more about their bottom line.

Apple need to drop the DRM and so does any other company using it.

Posted by andrew on January 24, 2007 at 8:15 AM (CST)

1

I don’t think anyone here understands the problem….

I think Apple would drop DRM in an instant…The iPod has reached the popularity point where they don’t need DRM to “lock-in” people to the iPod.

The Problem is that the DRM decision isn’t Apple’s…It’s the music industry’s. They are the ones who mandate that Apple have DRM in the first place.

And this argument is ridiculous. What about the Zune marketplace? Or Windows Media Player files that will only play on DRM devices? Or video games that only play on a certain maker’s console? This could start getting ridiculous here…

Posted by Cameron T. on January 24, 2007 at 8:22 AM (CST)

1

I’m going to sue SONY so that they allow me to play video games from their PlayStation in my XBOX.

Posted by JOG on January 24, 2007 at 8:55 AM (CST)

1

It’s “Verbraucherzentralen” ;)

Posted by Anna on January 24, 2007 at 11:29 AM (CST)

1

In fact it’s “Verbraucherzentrale” (singular), bit I don’t want to be a “Klugscheißer”!

Posted by Carsten on January 24, 2007 at 12:03 PM (CST)

1

Dang, I can’t run Mac OS X on my home built PC.. It’s all Apples fault, lets hate them. lol

They need to open their OS for other companies computers too, jeez.

Posted by BradwJensen on January 24, 2007 at 1:30 PM (CST)

1

You guys sure have no idea about economy or the problems a monopoly causes.

I guess you’d even give your own babies to Apple if they’d ask you to..

Posted by flau on January 24, 2007 at 1:41 PM (CST)

1

Seeing that there is other applications to play/get your music through and other players that’ll let you get the job done it really isn’t a matter of monopoly it’s just a matter of the people’s choice. Sorry everyone else just sucks

Posted by AZ on January 24, 2007 at 2:43 PM (CST)

1

I wouldn’t call my self a “fan” of DRM… but I’d rather have a 24hour, instant delivery music store “in” my computer stocked with thousands of DRM-ed tracks than nothing at all.

No body’s forcing these people to buy from iTunes; and if they decide to, then they can’t really complain about what they can(n’t) do with the files.

As a Mac user I’d LOVE Apple to license FairPlay, as I can’t play any Microsoft DRM-ed content… which all distributers MUST use as a requirement of their contacts. The sooner those people switch to FairPlay (or offer it as an alternative) the better… but I’m not gonna complain about not being able to play Microsoft DRM-ed files; I’m just not gonna buy them!

Posted by Levi on January 24, 2007 at 3:18 PM (CST)

1

you know, it is technically vertical integration, what iPod and iTunes, and now iPhone, and apple TV, and mac, and even airport express and extreme are doing. its not that outrageous. it’ll happen here soon enough, it just can’t go on forever.

Posted by Rafe on January 24, 2007 at 5:14 PM (CST)

1

If I buy a CD or DVD. I expect it to run any any brand of player. That said, with all of the sources for mp3’s on the internet. One would have to be a fool to purchase music from Apple. So go ahead make Jobs even wealthier, personally I enjoy screwing him.

Posted by Gene on January 24, 2007 at 5:37 PM (CST)

1

Its as cameronT said. The requirement for DRM is coming from the music industry NOT Apple. When Sony tried to put copy protection on their CDs the only thing “The Law” got mad about was the security hole it installed. They didn’t slap Sony for trying to copy protect their CDs. The answer isn’t make Apple let everyone else use their technology so they can use something other than an iPod. The answer is go after the music industry. Their marketing tactics are far more evil than Apple’s Fairplay.